Lee Anderson has said an armed officer who was filmed appearing to kick and stamp on a man’s head at Manchester Airport should be given a medal.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed that an officer had been suspended from all duties after the incident on Wednesday, footage of which was widely shared online.
The Reform UK MP for Ashfield said that the officers involved in the incident “should be commended”.
He told BBC Politics Live: “The message I’m getting loud and clear from my constituents is that they’re fed up with seeing police dancing around rainbows and being nice to people and running off from rioters.
The Biased Beeb.
Hardly heard anything from them about the female officer who had her nose broke or the officers taken to hospital. I will back our police and said this earlier to the BBC. Brace yourself for the nonsense in the studio. pic.twitter.com/wMpitKbaKM
— Lee Anderson MP (@LeeAndersonMP_) July 25, 2024
“They want the police to do their job. And I think these police yesterday should be commended, in fact I’d give them a medal.”
He received widespread condemnation for his remarks, including from a government minister.
Baroness Chapman, a Foreign Office minister, said: “I think Lee is completely wrong to rush to a conclusion like that not in full possession of all the facts”.
She added: “I would caution colleagues against jumping in and reaching conclusions when the police force itself has referred itself quite rightly to the IOPC [Independent Office for Police Conduct].
“The officer involved – quite rightly – has been suspended. But I don’t think that it’s right for politicians to go around grandstanding and trying to make political capital out of this at this stage.”
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said Mr Anderson’s comments were “irresponsible”.
He told the BBC that the full footage showed a “fast-moving and complicated” situation that was not “clear cut”.
The force said that a female officer suffered a broken nose and one of three officers required hospital treatment.
A spokesman said: “As the attending officers were firearms officers, there was a clear risk during this assault of their firearms being taken from them.”
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, said on Thursday that she had spoken to Mr Burnham, and that she shared the “deep concern surrounding the video and understand the widespread distress it will have caused”.
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